


2AM

by Vacant_Ghostgirl



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Jason is a small town track star, Late Night Diner AU, M/M, People need to play candy land in fics more, Piper and Jason being buddies!!, in fact in a broader sense this is kind of a small town au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-04-21
Packaged: 2018-01-10 10:59:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1158886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vacant_Ghostgirl/pseuds/Vacant_Ghostgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason is a waiter at the Jupiter Diner working the graveyard shift with Piper. Nico is an insomniac. He also becomes a regular.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i guess i could start using my ao3 account again OAO  
> this is!! kinda short i'm not sure if i should continue it later :)

The first time he'd come into the Jupiter Diner, Piper and you'd been sitting behind the counter playing Candy Land.

Honestly, it's not something you should've really both been doing, but the graveyard shift could hardly compare to the rush of the day, and Piper had told you to take a break from cleaning because 'if you wipe down that same counter one more time, I think you're going to scrub straight through to the floor'. She'd taken the box out from behind the pie display with a mischievous grin that reached her kaleidoscope eyes, and you'd groaned. 

"If Reyna ever caught us playing this-" You'd started, and she'd shushed you, pushing her pointer finger up to your face.

"Shhh. No words. Only candy cane forest now."

"We should really be-"

"Lighten up, Grace. Here, you can even be blue this time. You wanna play for tips?" She asked, and you rolled your eyes. The tip jar was empty. No one'd come in since your shift had started anyway. It was 1:47 am. The rain poured down on the pavement outside, neon light from the diner's road sign glowing through the storm in a yellow haze. 

At 2:17, You'd gone two rounds. Piper had won both.

"How can someone be bad at Candy Land??" She'd laughed, and you would've bet money that she was cheating somehow.

"You get Queen Frostine every time!!" You insisted, picking up the gumdrop card yet again and pulling your piece back. "Tell me how that makes any-"

The thing was, neither of you had noticed when he'd come in. The cough scared the crap out of both of you. When you looked up, he was staring at the two of you from across the counter, hands stuffed into the pockets of his aviator jacket, dark wet hair hung lowly over his curious eyes. 

"Are you guys open, or should I come back later…?" He asked, eyebrows raised, and Piper jolted up, knocking the board slightly to straighten out her apron.

"No! I mean, yes! We're open! 24 hours," She squeaked, smiling smoothly. "What can I get you?"

"Just a cup of coffee would be good," He'd said, quieter this time, watching Piper bustle through the kitchen doors to turn on the machine in the back. The boy turned back to you, blinking at the game board.

"Sorry," You say, words finally finding you. 

"I think you're missing some cards," He'd replied, pointing to where Piper had sat. On the bar stool were 3 cards- two face down, but one clearly the plastic happy face of Princess Lolly printed on it. Your eyes widened.

"I knew you were cheating!" You called to the doors to the back. Piper didn't answer. She was probably talking to Leo in the kitchen- who was probably experimenting with different things you could put into pies. They usually ended up ridiculous (peanut butter and kiwis, nutella and fruit loops with oatmeal) or some sort of blackened explosion in the oven. 

When you turn back, his eyes are wide. You fidget by the board, and push the stools out of the way to lean up by the register, forearms flat against the counter.

"Slow night," You say, rubbing the back of your neck sheepishly. "We don't usually… well, 2am is kind of a weird time for a cup of coffee, yeah?" He blinks, and opens his mouth before he closes it again, looking at you owlishly.

"I…" He starts, and squints. "I'm pretty sure I know you." This catches you by surprise.

"I think I would remember seeing you around before," You say before your head catches up to you, and you're trying to force down a blush when he makes a face.

"Thanks," He grumbles sarcastically, and it takes you a second to realize how he took it. Before you can correct yourself, he looks out the window to your right. "It's pretty bad out there."

"Must've really wanted a cup of coffee," You try, and he rolls his eyes. 

"Nothing better to do."

"Preach to the choir. I'm on my third losing round of a rigged game of Candy Land." When a smile tugs at the corners of his mouth, pride swells in your chest, and you know you're in hot water. You clear your throat. 

"Little late to be out by yourself?" You ask, and he bristles.

"Not really!" He remarks defensively, and you laugh a little. Wrong thing to say.

"Ok, ok."

"I'm not the one playing Candy Land," He says, biting his cheek like he's caught you. When you respond, you try to be as deadpan as you can.

"Candy Land is for adults." He huffs at you, but you can tell when he looks back down at the counter that he's trying not to smile again.

"I'm Jason," You try, and his eyes widen. 

"Oh- so you're-"

That's when Piper comes back through the doors.

"Ok! All set," She says, setting the steaming cup down in front of the boy. "Jason, Leo says he needs you in the back. Says it's urgent? I think it's a pie taste test. So, you know. Be really careful." You'd turned to the front again, blinking, and Piper stared at you.

"Um. Jason?" She'd asked, and you snapped out of it.

"Right. I'll- okay." You took a final look at the boy at the counter, but he's looking out the window again, and when you turn back to go through the doors to the kitchen, you nearly groan. 

You already know you're done for.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhm not a lot happens in this chapter but it was fun writing it heheee i like writing to set environments and the first part is definitely that  
> um other notes!! Leo's mum is alive in this au,,, i would not be making fire jokes otherwise i am not that terrible,,,   
> also obviously Bianca is alive too. i just want them to be happy hahaa  
> thalia is a badass with a girl gang in this au, i mean wait that's kind of canon

You have a morning routine during the week, and it's this.

Wake up to the sound of Thalia sneaking back into the house. Her room is adjacent to yours, so when the screen slams down from where she crawls in throughout the frame of the window in her bedroom, it makes a noise loud enough to resonate through to your room, but not your dad's. When she first started sneaking out at night, it used to bother you, because even though Thalia acted like it was her responsibility to keep you safe, she did so in intervals, and it made you wonder who was going to sit around worrying about her, when you had someone who did the same for yourself. Now, it's a noise you welcome. It lets you know she's safe from a night out, even if she isn't there to directly let you know. It's a bit like a code. 

This is around 6am. At 6:15, you get up, pull on your track shoes and running shorts, and leave through the back door. For a moment before you leave the house, you stop in front of your father's door. You know it's unlikely that he's there, or that he even knows that you're there- but all the same, you hesitate. There isn't any noise coming from behind the door. You take a deep breath. Of course. What had you been thinking. It feels stuffy in the house, all at once. You slam the screen door behind you, and step out on to the lawn.

By the time you finish stretching, it's 6:25. The morning is cold, and you can almost anticipate the way the brisk air will feel burning in your lungs before the sensation even starts. Dew is still fresh on the front lawn, and when you look out down the street, you can see Connor Stoll on his bike down the narrow bend chucking newspapers on to people's porches. His timing, every morning, is uncanny. 

Olympia isn't that big. There are upwards of 1200 people in town, and you're fairly certain you've seen all of them, some way or another, in your life. You've lived here since you were born. The chances aren't that slim. Thalia used to say that living in a small town was rough, because, 'no matter what you do, someone always knew you would.' The way it's small is that, you figure, you can like it all you want, and you can hate living here, but it does't really matter. In the end, you're just sort of a part of it. And nothing really changes how you feel about it either way. For some reason, you think about the boy who'd come into the diner the other day, giving small smiles down at the counter and looking up at you with dark eyes.

At 6:30, the sun is coming up, and you're done stretching. You take a deep breath. You run.

 

At 10:30, Valdez is in the kitchen again, and you're doing bus boy grunt work in the back. 

"What happened to Frank?" You call over to Leo, who's flipping frozen hash browns on the grill. "I mean, no offense, but I didn't exactly miss the dishes thing."

"Reyna gave him the day off to go visit his Mom- she just finished her tour, right?" You sigh, and haul a crate of plates and silverware on to the metal counter.

"Yeah. You here all night again, Valdez?" You don't turn around to look, but you know he's giving you that manic grin from under the chef's hat the absolutely does not fit him from across the kitchen. Piper had got it for him as a joke, but it became more of a sentimental thing as time went on, and Leo rarely takes it off when he's messing around in the back.

Reyna hadn't originally wanted to hire Leo. He was brash with customers, he was clumsy with trays, and due to a certain incident that had happened the previous summer, he was completely banned from ever laying a finger the cash register ever again. When he told her that he wanted to try his hand cooking in the back, Reyna had laughed at him. She needed a new cook, not the shelled out crispy skeleton of a burnt down diner. Leo was a walking fire hazard, and Reyna knew it. Piper had to put her job on the line to convince her to let Leo cook in the back for a night. Leo cooked for a night. Piper kept her job. Leo stayed in the kitchen. 

"She told me to tell you no more 1am 'experiment pies'," you call over to him, and he laughs.

"What's she gonna do, fire me??" You don't comment on the pun. "No one can make under-priced breakfast food 24 hours a day like I can. If there was an oscars for minimum wage diner cooks-" He swings around, holding his spatula like an award, "I would like to thank the academy. My manager, despite her tragic inability to recognize pure pie genius, my mother, bless her heart-" 

You sit back to watch the spectacle with crossed arms, laughing at the boy across the room.

"-Piper, of course, for putting her own source of income in jeprody- thank you for believing in me, my partner in crime, mi a moire-"

"Your hash browns are on fire," You say casually, and turn back to the dishes, not stopping to watch Leo's eyes widen as he scrambled over to the stove to put out the charred potatoes.

"No pies!" You call, and Piper comes in through the swing doors.

"Hey, it's thinning out out there." She wipes her hands on her apron. "I'm gonna fill up the buckets-" she does a double take over to the grill. "Leo, your hash browns are-"

"I know!!" He calls, swatting at the smoke with his hat. She shakes her head, smile tugging at her lips. It's 10:36.

 

At 12:14, the diner's empty, and you're only halfway done mopping the floors while the radio buzzes top 40 songs in the corner when Piper flops down into a booth, and groans.

"Can't we pay someone to mop? It's like… my least favorite. Mopping is the worst."

"Uh, you're the person who's paid to mop." Piper groans. "And I'm not doing yours over again like last time." She hears the teasing in your voice, and flips around, apron whirling.

"Excuse you! Reyna did not hire you to criticize my mopping. She hired you to look pretty and get rid of most of the stuff on the cake display by the end of the week!"

"Reyna did not hire me to 'look pr-'"

"She didn't hire you to talk back to the management, either!" Piper blows a strand of hair out of her face and huffs over at the door. "We should count the register now, right?" You smile at her.

"We have 2 more hours to the shift. Keep dreaming." When she sits down at the counter, she sighs, but there's no gravity to it. Piper likes it here. You know this. There's something about the quiet of the town, it gets to be simple for her. She likes living with her Dad. As soon as you think this, you can feel a wad of anxiety in your stomach tighten. Your own Father's far flashes through your mind, and your grip on the mop tightens. 

"I heard that scout is coming to your next meet, Jace," Piper says, and it brings you out of it for a moment. When you look at her, she's smiling at you.

"Yeah… it's… it's okay."

"Okay??" She leans over to look at you in the eyes. "Jason. It's a big deal!! You're not excited at all?"

"No, I am-" You stop, avoiding her gaze. In all honesty, you are excited. But you're more nervous than that. And besides, if there was one person you wanted to come to a meet of yours, it wasn't a scout from a university. 

"It's complicated," You say finally, and she huffs at you. 

"This could be really big. I'm not gonna say anything more about it," she shrugs, "Because you're being kinda weird for it, but this could be really cool for you." 

The silence between the two of you is thick. You clear your throat. Piper doesn't look away though. Instead she asks,

"Did you know that guy who was in here the other night?" Your eyes snap back to hers, and she grins. "I saw the way you two were talking before I came back out with the coffee!! I know that look, Jason Grace. You know how I can tell with people who get along."

"It's nothing," You say, but a bush is creeping up your neck, and before she can say anything else, you push yourself back up and start to mop again. "He must've just moved here or something," You try again flippantly, and she's still looking at you with raised eyebrows and a grin. You know it's not true. If someone had moved to town, a place this small, you would have heard about it. You don't say this to Piper, though. "It doesn't matter."

"Uh huh." She goes back to her mop, and her back is facing you when she replies. "Well, then I guess you don't care that you're actually wrong. He didn't just move here. He's lived here for a while."

You stop mopping.

"But I guess since it's nothing…" She yawns. "You don't really want to know. I won't bore you with it."

When you turn around, Piper is whistling. You can hear the clanking of Leo cleaning up in the back, and the buzz of the radio is faint.

"You know who he is." It isn't a question. She turns around with an innocent expression that you know for a fact she had picked up from Leo.

"Hm?" She asks, as if she hadn't just been talking to you four seconds ago. "Oh, you want to know?"

"Piper," You say carefully, and she's smiling at you. 

"I met his sister the other day," She says, hold the mop handle close to her. "Her name's Bianca. They live out by downtown- and she home-schools him. That's why we've never seen him at the highschool." Piper grins at you. 

"You know that doesn't explain why we don't really see them ever around town, right?" You ask, and her smile falters.

"Uh." You roll your eyes. 

"Alright. Where'd you meet her?"

"Saw her at Publix the other night," Piper says with a shrug. "She looked really lost. Thought I might help. I recognized her face though. Her and her brother- they look really similar."

Instinctively, you look over to the door. Outside, the neon lights that rim the roof of the diner light up the parking lot. It's empty.

"You catch her name?" You ask, and Piper hums, mopping again with her back to yours.

"Hers is Bianca. And her brother's is Nico." Despite everything, you let yourself smile down at the floor while Piper isn't looking.

"Nico di Angelo."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico comes in for the second time, the boys are properly introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just finished finals so there may or may not be 2 chapters up this week!! :)

Your meet goes horribly.

To be completely honest, working the late shift is the exact polar opposite of what you wanted to be doing right now- you wanted to go home, and mindlessly, miserably play TF2 for eight hours and forget that every single other thing in the world existed- your dad and your school and the scout and track and the diner- but you can't. Your dad says, 'A job is a commitment, not just a source of income'. You suck it up and get in your pickup and drive to work anyway. The muscles in your legs and thighs are burning from the afternoon, but it's the good sort that makes you grit your teeth and push your nails into the palms of your hands. You can't believe how shitty your meet went. Maybe it was nerves, knowing the scout from the uni was there, or maybe you were tired from finishing calc the night before- either way, you weren't at your best, and it showed. Coach had patted your back afterwards, telling you that there would be more scouts from other colleges in a friendly attempt to make you feel better because your disappointment must have been showing all over your face. You'd nodded. It didn't make you feel any better, though.

Piper sees you first when you're putting your apron on in the back. You don't look at her, but you feel her eyes on you, and when you turn around to tie the knot, her expression is soft and sympathetic.

"Jason…," She starts, and you shake your head.

"No offense, Piper, but I don't really feel like talking about it." Lord knows you'll be getting enough of that when you get home. "Can we just… I don't want to talk about it." She's quiet for a second, searching your face for something she can recognize- anger, or embarrassment- but she gives up in a moment, and sighs.

"Yeah. It's fine. I just…" Your arms drop to your sides. "But before we do the 'not talking about it' thing, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry, and I think you ran pretty great anyway, even if it wasn't your best." 

You look up at her. Piper's eyes are locked on yours, and a small smile is spread across her face, framed by the loose strands not caught up in the messy ponytail she's wearing. In her apron, she looks familiar to you. You think to the long nights at the diner you've spent together, chucking CandyLand cards at each other and singing along to the jukebox when it decides to work, and you're very suddenly very glad to have Piper Mclean in your life. 

"Thanks, Pipes," You say, and try to grin. She shrugs like it's not a big deal, but her smile stays.

When you walk through the swinging doors, Leo's in the back making pies like he isn't supposed to.

"Jason!" He calls. "You just missed Reyna. Do you think you could toss me the rolling pin? And- oh man, I almost forgot- how did your meet…go…?" 

Leo trails off, and from the corner of your eye, you see Piper making a slicing motion across her neck with her hand, pulling a sour face and nodding her head towards you. It nearly makes you laugh, and Leo turns back to you with feigned brightness.

"Er- I meant- not… that… something else? Rolling pin's right there, to your left," He says quickly, and you grab it from the counter and toss it over to him. When he misses it and juggles the pin for a moment before it clatters to the floor, Piper laughs.

"It's not late enough for that," She squeaks through giggles, and Leo grumbles about how the handle was greasy before you go out to make orders from the few stragglers sitting around the booths. It's 10:15.

 

At 1:45, you're all in the back room again playing poker, and Leo's loading strawberry jam and leftover bacon into a pie crust.

"I don't know how you can even stomach to make those things," You say to the curly haired cook as he perfects the edges of the pastry around the tin before he sticks it into the oven. "Especially because around twenty-five percent of them explode before we even get to taste them."

"I'm getting it down to a science," He insists proudly, and Piper tosses a card down on the table.

"There," She says, and leans over so her elbows are on the table. "Go Fish, Jace."

You stare at her. "Go Fish? What do you mean Go Fish? We're playing Poker!"

"House rules," She replies, tone bored, and yawns. "Lord, you're bad at this."

"I'm not-" You try, but the bell on the door rings in the front. All of you freeze, and Leo turns to you and Piper.

"I'm not a waiter, one of you get it," He says. You raise your eyebrows at Piper, and she sticks her fist out to you.

"Rocks Paper Scissor, and make it quick, they could be robbing the register," She rushes. You rolls your eyes, but stick your fist out in your palm anyway.

"Rocks-"

"Paper-"

"Scissor-"

"Shoot!"

Piper's grin is as wide as a shark in a sushi buffet. She hits her balled up fist over your two fingers extra hard, and you groan.

"Paper beats rock!" She cheers happily. "The customers are waiting, Jason. Have fun."

"I don't know how," You say teasingly as you get up, wiping your hands off on your apron, "But you cheated."

"What- I- How?? It's Rock Paper Scissors!" She calls after you.

"I know your track record, Mclean!" You yell, pushing the double doors open, not turning to look at whoever was sitting at the counter. "First CandyLand, then Monopoly- Yeah, hello, welcome to the Jupiter Diner, where all of our waitresses are-…cheating… uh…"

When you turn around, the boy from the other night is standing on the other side of the counter with his hands shoved in his pockets, dark hair tousled just over his eyes and staring at you like you're doing flips over the cake display. You freeze where you stand, and blink at him.

The silence is awkward.

"Are you guys always this way around here at night?" He asks, and his voice is deeper than you remember. It takes you a few seconds to answer him.

"Only… when it gets to be past twelve or so," You say, finding your voice again. 

There's another silence.

"Can I get you anything?" You ask, and he shrinks slightly, like he's embarrassed.

"Just a coffee." You give him a nod, expression still flushed.

"Okay… coffee. Coming right up." The silence is maddening. You turn around and practically stumble through the double doors.

"Trucker?" Piper calls, and you shake your head, walking over to her before sitting down.

"It's-" You clear your throat. "The Di Angelo kid." Her eyes light up, and Leo calls from the back, 

"Who?"

"Jason, go talk to him!" She says loudly, and you shush her, not knowing how much sound carries though to the front from the back. When she starts again, her voice is lower. "What did he ask for?"

"Coffee?" She shakes her head.

"Jason! The coffee machine's out front. Just- go make conversation! You're good at that."

"I am?" You ask warily, still living in the embarrassment of yelling for Piper while walking through the doors. 

"Yes!" She says louder, and clunks you lightly on the head. "Remember? Jesus and Joseph, you're helpless. Just go out there, and… talk to him."

When you look over at her, her gaze is hopeful. 

"Wait, so…" Leo says from by the oven, "Who exactly are we talking about?"

 

When you bring Nico his coffee, you don't just leave it on the table for him.

He's sitting at a booth by the counter, and when you scoot into the seat opposite from him, he looks up at you with an expression that is halfway to jumpy shock, and halfway to awkward shyness. 

"Here's your coffee," You say quietly, sliding the saucer over to him. His eyes flicker down to the cup, and then to you.

"Thanks." His tone is cautious. Your fingers itch in your lap, and you bring your elbows up to the table.

"I'm Jason, by the way. Jason Grace." Nico looks at you warily, but answers you nonetheless.

"Nico Di Angelo," He replies. You smile, and he looks down at the table.

"You go to the high school here?" You ask. He pauses for a moment, and then shakes his head.

"Nah. My sister home schools me, so- that's probably why we haven't really seen each other." 

It takes a few minutes for him to stop looking so tense on the other side of the booth. As it would turn out, talking to Nico was a lot like coaxing a calf out of a barb wire fence- it seemed to want to get out, but it was just stuck. After a while, you decide to bite the bullet and ask what you'd been meaning to get to when you first sat down. 

"Um- listen, the last time you were in here- you said you knew who I was?" 

When he stares at you again, you make sure your eyes meet his.

Nico shrugs. 

"Well, yeah. Everyone around here does."

This time, it's your turn to stare blankly.

"What do you mean?" 

Nico huffs.

"The Junior from New Roman High? Jason Grace, 'Fast as Lightning?'" 

'Not recently,' You want to add, but you bite your tongue. He spun the coffee cup so he could hold the handle with his left hand. "Olympia's track star hero?" His eyes flick up to yours. "And you're working… at a diner… at 1am."

"Well, uh… yeah," You say, smiling apologetically. "It's kind of a long story. My dad, he runs the electrical company in town. He's kind of dead set on me paying my own tuition." This seems to catch Nico's attention, and he looks up at you curiously. Even in the light of the diner, his eyes still seem to be endlessly dark. Around the bridge of his nose, you can see the small hint of freckles adorning his pale complexion. You blink, and realize slowly that he'd asked you a question while you'd been staring.

"Sorry?" You ask, and he gives you an odd look before speaking again.

"College. Where do you want to go?" He asks. You shrug. 

"Not sure. Somewhere up north, probably. I always feel like it's so far away, and I have a long time to choose, but…" His eyes are intent, and you tear your gaze away to the floor, tracing circles on to the surface of the table. "I guess not, huh."

There's a quiet between you, but it isn't uncomfortable. You can vaguely hear the clanking of dishes in the back- Piper's muted voice over to Leo. When Nico speaks again, his voice is noticeably quieter. You're still not looking at him, but you catch what he says just fine.

"I'd do anything to get out of this place."

It isn't something you can disagree with.

"Me too," You reply with a breathy laugh, and Nico turns to face you with disbelief all over his face. 

"What are you talking about? You- I mean-" He's stumbling over his words, and you don't have it in you not to smile a bit, because… okay, because it's a little cute. "You're Olympia's sweetheart. Or- whatever the jock equivalent of that is. Everyone in school- knows you, and likes you. People in town see you, and they- they notice you." He shifts in his seat, glaring down at his coffee.

You roll your eyes. "Come on, no they don't. I'm not that great."

Nico shakes his head, frowning. "You don't see it. You don't understand. But people around here- I just don't get, why would you want to leave?" It's a question you're not sure you're ready to answer. Instead, you lean over, and ask,

"Why would you?"

He stops cold, but only for a second. When Nico looks back up at you, his gaze is hard with heedless determination. Something warm in your stomach stirs.

"It's not as easy for everyone else, you know. Being so- so-" He stops, and looks you over before gesturing towards your side of the booth. "The way you are. I don't know if you know this, but I'm not… I'm not exactly spectacular with other people."

"You're doing okay so far with me," You say before you can stop yourself. Nico blinks at you twice, and then frowns blankly, and you take it as a chance to keep going in a rush. "Why do you know all this stuff about me, anyway?" The younger boys looks away from you very quickly, down to his now cold coffee.

"Bianca hangs out with your- um, your sister and her friends. She says Thalia talks about you a lot."

The swell of compassion you feel for your older sister is sudden, and you can't help the smile that comes to your face. You make a mental note to give her the biggest hug of her life when you get home- assuming she's not out with what your dad would call, 'her gaggle of juvenile delinquents'. Which, well- she usually is. If there was someone who wanted to get out of Olympia the most in the town, it wasn't you or Nico- it was Thalia by a landslide. Half the time when you went into her room, you always had the fleeting thought that you would open the door and the room would be empty, all of the junk and paraphernalia missing from the walls, Thalia on her way in her cheap car to somewhere like LA or New York. You're jealous of her, in this way. You know that if it came down to the wire, you wouldn't be able to do something like that yourself.

"What time is it?" Nico asks, bringing you back down to earth. 

"Uh…" Your phone is behind the counter, and you slide out of the booth and lean all the way over to grab it from your drawstring.

"It's 2:15." It's something you really shouldn't be considering, seeing how you have a curfew even when you work, though your dad isn't usually one to enforce it- but you're tempted to tell him how your shift ends in 45 minutes, how you could probably give him a ride home-

"I'd better get going," He says quietly, tugging on his jacket. It's much too big for him, and he barely needs it in the cool breeze at night, but Nico stuffs his hands into the pockets and pulls out a wad of ones, laying them on the counter to pay for the coffee.

Something occurs to you.

"You don't have a phone?"

He shrugs. "It, uh… it broke." The way he says it is odd, but you nod absently. What you really want to do is ask him why he comes here so late, why he's younger than you are but he doesn't seem to have anyone who minds his being out at 2am in the middle of the week. You don't though. 

"Trying to get my number, Grace?" His tone is dry, and you know that he's kidding, but you can't help the blush that comes creeping up your neck. You laugh, and pray to god that it doesn't sound as nervous to him as it does to you. "I don't really need one, anyway," He mumbles, and hunches his shoulders.

"You drive here?" You ask curiously, and Nico shakes his head.

"Live down the dirt road in the back. It's 'bout 20 minutes if you walk," He explains tiredly.

Ask to walk him back. Ask If he'll be in again sometime soon. Ask why you rarely see him around.

You do none of this.

"Well, uh- it was…" You rub the back of your neck. "It was nice to meet you- for real this time. Nico." You like the way his name sounds in your mouth. If you'd been standing any closer, you'd think that he was blushing a little. Nico wavers by the door for a split second, and then turns, pulling his hand out of his pocket to wave, stepping out into the dark. His voice floats back to where you're standing at the counter.

"See you later, Grace."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fighting and dad issues, octavian is a douchelord among men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember when i said i would update twice in one week, LMAO oooh man  
> umm there's fighting and descriptions of blood in this chapter but the big one is a character uses some homophobic slurs so that's the warning for that!!!  
> thanks so much for the kudos and comments guys <3 i love and cherish them. ps if you know what the beep test is leave me comments on how horrible the beep test is we will bond trust me  
> oh yeah there's no diner in this chapter!! the diner is mentioned. but there is no actual diner. i know you're all here for the diner, obviously

"I cannot BELIEVE," Piper whines dramatically, "That you did NOT WALK HIM HOME."

It's a long walk from the school to the McLean house, and even more so to yours. The sun beats down on the both of you as you make your way down the road, mid-afternoon sending fatigue through your bones. Piper's shoes slap against the pavement in a way that is almost indicative of her haughty expression, and it takes you a moment to realize that she's expecting a response from you. One you don't really have. To be honest, you don't want to talk about it right now.

"I was still working," You protest in your own defense, but it's a flat argument at best. You're almost taking her side on this one. Why hadn't you walked him home? Piper could've watched the place for the last leg of the shift. 

"I would have covered for you, the last half," She says waving her arms, confirming your faith in her. "It would have been perfect. You should've seen you two at the booth. Leo's got money on how soon he comes in again." You drag your hands down your face until her words register with you.

"You two were spying?" You say, in a tone that is absolutely not a squeak. She laughs.

"Jason. Of course we were spying. Although, to my defense, it was Leo's idea to peek."

"I don't know if he's- I think I might've freaked him out," You admit, rubbing the back of your neck at the sweat that had formed there. "He doesn't like living here."

"Sounds like someone I know," She says in a teasing voice, but when you look at her, her expression is some combination of worry and sadness. 

"Don't we have an English test tomorrow?" You ask suddenly. She frowns at you, and you know your attempts at changing the subject are transparent, but she lets it slide, blowing a strand of hair away from her face.

"Dunno." She smirks. "I never study for those things, anyway." 

(Piper talks to teachers like milk and honey, smooth and sweet and polite like she hadn't just been camping out in the baseball field dugout behind the school 5th period to get out of taking the beep test in gym. She's charming, you know this, and they do to. It's something you don't forget very often, Piper is better with people than you ever were. Still-)

"Never?" You ask. She laughs, her smile bright in the sunlight.

"Yeah! Yeah. Never." You look over at her disapprovingly, but it's a surface level reprimand.

"How are you not failing that class?" You ask.

She shrugs. "I'm actually doing the best in English class out of all of my classes. Mr. D wants to submit the last paper I wrote the board as an example of his student's work for review." Her grin is brilliant. "I guess I just have a really good way with words."

"Unreal," You say, and she's laughing again.

You like the walk home, even when it's hot and makes your backpack stick to the back of your shirt with sweat, watching the heat rise form the pavement. You can close your eyes and picture the route from the high school back to your house in a slow, steady pace, the path you've walked for what feels like ages. Piper always complains, talks about how much she wants a car, her eyes lighting up when the subject of her birthday rolling around arises. You like the walk, though. It's familiar.

"He'll come around again, you know," Piper says, interrupting your train of thought. "You're like that. He'll come around." The certainty in her voice is sincere.

You don't say anything, but you're sure she notices the smile that flits across your face.

 

You reach the dirt road that leads to Piper's place, and she waves goodbye, her other hand gripping the strap of her backpack tightly.

"See you tomorrow!" She calls, and you wave back, watching her turn and run down towards her house, kicking up clouds of dirt into the hot, stuffy heat. You take a moment to stand there, watching her walk away from you, framed by the tall oak trees that line the road. You know her dad is waiting for her, back at the house. You can picture her sprinting up her wooden porch, swinging open the screen door, laughing at the golden retriever that comes bounding out into the yard. Her dad is usually in the garage in the back, fixing up the engine of whatever car had found its way on to the McLean property that week. When he sees Piper get home from school, he lights up. They're each others' only family, and Piper isn't any less sad about it. She brings out lemonade, and they laugh together.

Something twists in your stomach. You shake your head, waiting a second to let out a steady breath. Then you start to make your way back to your own house.

 

 

 

Your dad has never been to a meet of yours, in the four years you've done track. 

 

 

The time it takes to get to your house between when you and Piper split ways to when you get home is time you don't appreciate. It starts off you thinking about small things, what you're going to make yourself for dinner, if Thalia would come home at night, or in the morning, homework you might happen to have that day. But it snowballs into larger thoughts you can't control, and usually by the time you reach your house, you're relatively uneasy about something or another that puts you on edge until you can find something palpable to calm you down. Lately, a big one has been college. Last week, it was the track meet that you later bombed. You walk along the edge of the woods that runs down to where your street begins, and when you look up into the trees, you think back to when you were kids, and you and Thalia would run around deep in the forest until it started to get dark enough to know that you had to head home. She took care of you back then. She hadn't always planned on doing so. She'd been teaching you to take care of yourself. You hadn't known it then. You do now. Unconsciously, your tongue flicks to the scar on your lip, and you try to shift the weight of your backpack on your shoulders. The woods haven't changed all that much. Along the parallel street behind them, backyards filter into the forest. 

It's only then you hear the rustling.

A deer, you think, because that's rational. The woods are full of them, and it wouldn't be the first time you'd stumbled across one on your way back to the house, it's head lifting to stare boldly at you before it bounded back into the trees. 

What you don't expect is Nico Di Angelo, bounding out of the forest with wide eyes, neck craning to look behind him for whatever he was running from. His jacket is torn on one side, and his lip is busted open, blood starting to make its way down to his chin, the red a stark contrast to his pale skin. His pants are covered in dirt, a result of running through the brush, and he when you turn around, he doesn't even notice you're there. It's probably why he bowls right into you, not looking where he's going, and the two of you fall to the ground with a curse, and an 'oof'. 

You can feel the hot asphalt digging into your side, and you groan before you open your eyes to the frantic, owlish shock of the other boy.

"Nico?" You ask, and you didn't think it could, but his expression doubles in panic.

"Shit," He breathes.

"Hey!"

"Shit!" He hisses again.

The shout is short and clear from the woods. Nico scrambles off of you like you burn to the touch. He's holding his wrist in his hand, and looking doggedly from you to the source of the yell. Seconds later, and he would have bolted down the street, you're sure of it, but four boys come stomping out of the woods, and it's like he's frozen to the asphalt.

"You-" The boy in front starts towards Nico, but he seems to see you for the first time, sitting up bewildered in the street, staring at the lot of them.

You recognize one out of the four of them immediately. Octavian, the blond one in the front. You remember briefly about how once, you had come into your shift at the Jupiter, and Reyna had been in a particularly foul mood. When you had asked Piper what happened, she'd shook her head.

'That senior, Octavian- you know him, right? He's on the debate team, the football team- weird, combo, I know- came in here and starting going at it with Reyna. Though she was gonna turn the place completely upside down after he left- said some really nasty stuff to her. That kid is an asshole.' You'd laughed. You're not really laughing now.

This is what echoes in your mind as he sneers down at you, looking from Nico to where you sit in the street.

"Jason Grace." He says your name like it's the equivalent of scraping dirt off of his shoes. Why does everyone seem to know who you are, lately? Are you really that blind to how people know you?

The situation is immediately clear to you. Nico flinches from Octavian's voice as soon as he says your name. The three other boys trailing behind Octavian are glaring at the youngest boy like fresh meat. Seeing the blood staining Nico's lip sends something dark into the pit of you, and you already know that things are going to go to shit here. You raise one eyebrow, and frown.

"Don't think we've met," You respond lowly. 

"Haven't," Octavian says. His eyes narrow. "Wrong place, wrong time, Grace. Why don't you take a hike? Or a run. Heard about last week." You twitch. Bringing up your trashed meet was a low blow. Octavian smiles at you, but it's slimy, and you feel your hands balling to fists.

"Don't think I'm gonna." The smile slides off his face now. Nico's eyes are frantic, frantic, frantic, but you don't look at him. He's thinking what you're thinking: there's no way you can take on four guys by yourself.

'That kid is an asshole', Piper's voice repeats in your mind. You clench your jaw.

Four against. one. You'll see about it.

 

For a few seconds, everything is dead quiet. Octavian seems to be deciding on what to do, shifting his weight to his other foot and regarding you, and then Nico.

"C'mon, Grace," He says in a dangerous voice, breaking the tension. You're getting to your feet now, dusting off your hands on your knees and slinking your backpack down the the ground beside you. "The little faggot's not worth it."

Your fist connects with Octavian's jaw like a firecracker. He's on you immediately, pummeling you in the gut so you double over, and hitting you right in the jaw. You grab his jacket and punch him in the ribs, and he doesn't yell out, but you can hear him puff all the air out of his lungs when the punch makes contact. He socks you in the eye, and the two of you wrestle for a few minutes before Octavian fights absolutely dirty and knees you in the groin. When you fall to the ground, he kicks you in the stomach a few times for good measure, the pain building in your gut with each consecutive hit. When you squint one eye open, Nico is holding his hands up to his face where blood is pouring out of his nose like a faucet. 

You close your eye again and groan. Footsteps circle around your head, and the sudden pressure on your ribs makes you choke and look up.

Octavian is standing over you with one foot planted firmly on your chest. The bright blue sky frames his face, and his cheek is already starting to swell up where you had first punched him.

"Next time," He hisses, "I won't go easy on you or your fucking queer boyfriend. This was a warning, so fucking remember it." He moves his jaw around before he pushes off you with his foot, and you groan and close your eyes again. You stay on the ground. "C'mon. I don't have goddamn time for this." The footsteps recede until you can't hear them anymore. Birds chirp in the trees beside you, and you feel like you're going to throw up. Your head is pounding and you know for a fact a black eye is well on its way to forming across your face.

"Sorry," You croak, and pull yourself up with a moan to look at the other boy. 

Nico is staring at you like you'd grown a third head.

"How bad?" You ask, and he pulls his red-stained hands away from his face.

"You didn't have to do that," He says hoarsely, and you shake your head.

"No, I really did."

"I'm so sorry," Nico says, and that seems to break the dam. He rushes over to you, helping you up. "I am so so sorry. I didn't mean to run into you- literally run into you, what the hell- you didn't have to do that. That was so goddamn stupid, you know that, right. Four guys. You were gonna fight four guys. Are you out of your mind?? Jesus. Look at your face." Even though your stomach is throbbing where Octavian had kicked you and your groin is still killing you, you still somehow find it in you to smile as best you can.

"My face?" You say, grinning like an idiot. "You're not winning any beauty pageants yourself right now." 

Nico just stares at you.

"Oh my god." He says. "You're a complete lunatic. Did he give you a concussion? How many fingers am I holding up?"

Nico holds up two fingers. You blink.

"Cool skull rings," You tell him. His reaction is almost delayed, but when your words register, he groans and pushes his hair from his face with both hands.

"You're killing me, Grace." It makes you laugh, but you stop abruptly at the shooting pain in your ribs. "He kicked you right in the crotch. That is the most underhanded, bullshit thing-"

"Are you okay?" You ask him, and there's a gravity to your question that seems to snap him out of his frenzy for a moment to stare at you. A second passes, and he doesn't say anything. 

"I'm sorry about- he shouldn't've called you-" You try, and Nico goes sheet white before turning away from you, hiding his reaction. You don't press it. He turns back to you after a second, and it's almost imperceptible, but his expression is more guarded. 

"Here," He says, and picks up your backpack. "Be lucky he didn't steal your shit."

Something clicks in your brain.

"Your phone," You mumble, and a blush creeps up his neck.

"Um," He mutters. "Yeah."

You want to ask how long it's been going on, if Octavian is the only one, why doesn't he tell someone, but you don't want to scare him off, or make him feel embarrassed. Instead, you take your bag from him, looking him in the eyes.

"Thanks," You say, and he ducks his head down. When he looks back up at you, he regards you carefully, as if he's deciding on something.

"You live down there, right?" He says, gesturing towards the end of the street. For some reason, the question takes you by surprise.

"Yeah." Nico stares at you for a second. When he speaks again, his voice is tentative.

"You can… you can come over, if you want. I have- stuff to patch us up. I gotta face the music with my sister, too, and I don't think she's gonna believe what happened unless you're there in the flesh to back me up."

Something like hope fills your chest. It's a peace offering. A trade.

Nico takes your silence badly.

"You don't have to," He starts quickly, and you cut him off.

"No, it's good. I mean, yeah. Let's go."

It's worth it to see Nico's small, bloodstained smile.

"Let's cut through the woods," He says, and ducks back in through the trees for you to follow.


End file.
